LOT Boeing 737-500 economy class

Originally published on businesstraveller.com 29/07/2010   RSS

First impressions I arrived at Heathrow's Terminal 1 at 1550 for my flight LO280 departing at 1750. LOT flies three-times daily between Heathrow and Warsaw.

I had checked in online the night before, but hadn't been near a printer, so I headed to zone K to print my boarding pass, which is located off to the right of the main check-in area and is shared with fellow Miles and More partner Lufthansa. 

The zone was busy with what looked like a school trip, but there were plenty of self-service kiosks, where I printed my boarding passes both for the London-Warsaw leg of my trip, and for the connecting Warsaw-Beirut flight (for a review of this flight click here). As my passes were being printed the screen informed me that my flight had been delayed by ten minutes, and was now due to depart at 1800. Security was quiet on this Saturday evening, and I was airside by 1620. 

Boarding The departure board advised that the gate would open at 1705, and by 1700 it was showing gate 52, so I made my casually to the gate, and after a ten minute wait we started to board. After taxiing and waiting in a slight queue, the flight took off at 1820.

The seat I was sat in seat 3C at the front of the economy section, with the aircraft configured 3-3 throughout (except the two rows of business class which had the middle seats kept free). It was certainly not a new aircraft, but the seating was clean and comfortable enough, with a width of 17 inches, pitch of 32 inches, and recline of 30 degrees. For a seatplan of this aircraft, click here.

Which seat to choose? As I had a fairly tight connection of just over an hour in Warsaw, I decided to sit as close to the front of the aircraft as possible, to ensure I was among the first out of the aircraft. There's little to choose from the seats in the economy cabin, which go from rows 3 to 18. The emergency row 8 offers slightly more leg room, and there is a toilet at the back of the aircraft.

The flight Economy was completely full on this flight, with a couple of business class seats taken. Soon after take-off we were offered a cleansing wipe, and drinks were offered. On this two hours 30 minutes flight  we were offered a vacuum-packed wholemeal roll, which did not have any details of the ingredients on it, but turned out to be sundried tomato, cheese and lettuce, and later a crew member came round with a basket of chocolate wafer biscuits. I had been reading LOT's in-flight magazine, which had an ad saying that it would be offering a new menu from July, offering dishes including smoked salmon with lemon pepper and catfish filets on a lentil ragu. However it didn't specify which routes this would be available on, or whether it was an economy or business class offering. The flight itself was uneventful, and staff were polite throughout.

Arrival We touched down on time at 2120, and I was off the aircraft by 2130. The directions for transit passengers were clearly marked, and I passed through a near-deserted security check and headed to gate A26. For the review of the Warsaw-Beirut leg, click here.

Verdict A punctual flight with good service throughout. 

Contact lot.com

Mark Caswell